Audit is an essential activity for all
psychiatrists. Involvement in audit must be evidenced by
consultants for revalidation and by trainees in their Annual Review
of Competence Progression (ARCP). This book will therefore be
relevant for psychiatrists of all grades. It aims to help ease the
audit process by offering tried and tested recipes for conducting
audits in clinical services. All the audits in this book have been
undertaken by the authors and it therefore provides useful
practical advice for carrying out the audits in day-to-day
practice.

"A psychiatrist who
cannot show that he or she has been involved in audit is going to
be in difficulties."

– Prof. Robert
Howard, Dean, Royal College of Psychiatrists

Audit recipes to suit a
huge range of clinical settings and services.

Save time and get added
value from the audit process.

Will help you through the
requirements of appointments panels and revalidation.

Readership:
Psychiatrists of all grades, plus other mental health
professionals.

Contents

Introduction

What is audit?

The audit cycle

Distinguishing audit from research

Why is audit important?

What is best practice in audit?

How can the results of audit lead to changes in practice?

How can audit benefit doctors?

Completing an audit project

Step 1. Choose a topic

Step 2. Consider forming a multidisciplinary team

Step 3. Review the literature

Step 4. Set standards

Step 5. Choose an audit design

Step 6. Collect the data

Step 7. Analyse the data

Step 8. Make conclusions and recommendations

Step 9. Disseminate results

Step 10. Implement change

Step 11. Re-audit

Part I: Disorders

1. Acute
confusion: recognition

2.
Antenatal and postnatal mental health

3.
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: provision of
information

4. Bipolar
depression: treatment

5. Bipolar
disorder: management

6. Bipolar
disorder: shared decision-making

7. Bipolar
disorder: treatment

8. Chronic
fatigue syndrome

9.
Dementia: driving

10.
Dementia: end-of-life care

11.
Dementia: investigations

12.
Depression: management in children and young people

13. Eating
disorders: management

14.
Epilepsy: management

15. Opiate
dependence and pregnancy

16.
Schizophrenia: family interventions

17.
Schizophrenia: management

18.
Schizophrenia: occupational achievements

19.
Self-harm: assessment

20.
Self-harm: assessment in children

Part II: Legislation

21.
Consent to treatment (Scotland)

22.
Consent to treatment and second-opinion approved doctors

23. Mental
Health Act (Scotland)

24.
Seclusion

25.
Section 17 leave

26.
Section 136 assessments

27.
Tribunal reports

Part III: Physical health

28.
Diabetes: management

29.
Infection control

30.
Metabolic side-effects of antipsychotics

31.
Metabolic syndrome

32.
Monitoring growth and blood pressure in children with
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

00.
Physical examinations: equipment

34.
Physical health of in-patients: assessment

35.
Physical health of in-patients: record-keeping

36.
Physical health of patients with severe mental illness

37.
Screening for blood-borne viruses

38.
Screening for breast and cervical cancer

39.
Smoking cessation

40.
Testing for illicit drug use

41.
Venepuncture equipment

Part IV: Record-keeping

42.
Alcohol history

43. Care
plans in community drug and alcohol teams

44. Care
programme approach: home treatment teams

45. Care
programme approach: prisons

46. Care
programme approach: secondary care

47.
Confidential waste

48.
Documentation of the psychiatric history

49.
Documentation of ward reviews

50.
Letters to general practitioners

51.
Medication alerts in electronic patient records

52. Risk
assessment: forms for in-patients

53. Risk
assessment: medium-secure unit

Part V: Service provision

54. Early
intervention teams

55.
Emergency department: attendance

56.
Information for in-patients on their rights

57.
Interpreters

58.
Liaison psychiatry: response time to referrals

59.
Multi-agency working

60.
Personal searches

61. Prison
equivalence

62.
Prison-to-hospital transfers

63.
Seven-day follow-up

64.
Substance misuse: Treatment Outcomes Profile

65.
Transition from ‘choice’ to ‘partnership’ in the Choice and
Partnership Approach

"Finding a topic to audit that is
interesting, relevant and achievable within clinical practice can
sometimes be difficult. This book is a valuable resource for
anybody involved in undertaking an audit as part of their
continuing professional development. It can be dipped in and out of
time and time again."

"It can be difficult to find
time to conduct thorough and useful audits in busy clinical
practice. This book will help by giving practical advice and
a step by step guide to a range of audits that have been carried
out across the country and across the specialty."

"A whole section is devoted to
distinguishing between audit and research. Several of my colleagues
have started out doing what they think is an audit only to find out
later that what they have found and presented is in fact research.
This section is particularly helpful in separating the two and
avoiding this confusion."